Blaze Forces Man Out Disabled Tenant Outlasts Robbers

DELRAY BEACH -- Determined not to be run out of his small downtown house, longtime resident Pasco Baker, though missing both legs, had endured robberies and assaults.

But a faulty radio cord that sparked a roaring blaze was too much for him to battle.

Seven Delray Beach police officers, responding to Baker`s cries for help, rushed into the burning house at 4:55 p.m. Wednesday and pulled him to safety.

Baker, 70, was not injured and rested on Thursday at his sister`s house. Authorities said he will never be able to return to the house he held so dear.

The single-story house in the 300 block of Northwest First Street had plywood walls and went up ``like a matchbox,`` Delray Beach Fire-Rescue Lt. Larry Garito said.

Baker, a World War II Army veteran, taught biology in the 1960s at what was then called Carver High School, and later at Boca Raton High School and Boynton Beach Junior High School. He retired in 1976 after his diabetes led to the amputation of his left leg. His right leg was amputated in 1983.

Baker, unable to move freely in his house, was the victim of repeated robberies. In 1986, he told a reporter that one robber came in so often it was if the robber owned the house. However, the man did not return after Baker stabbed him and sent him running.

Despite his physical disabilities and troubles with criminals, Baker said then that he would never consider selling his house to move to a nursing home.

Before the fire broke out, Baker had been living in the house with his nephew Eugene Nelson, 41, Doresa Croswell, 22, and her son, Jesse Frost, 3. Nelson, a cook at the Atlantic Whaler restaurant, is staying temporarily with his sister. Croswell, who had been cooking for Baker in exchange for a place to live, also is staying with relatives.

The Red Cross provided Nelson, Croswell and her son with some clothing.

``They are taken care of as far as food, clothing and shelter for now,`` Parker said. ``What`s wiped out basically was Pasco Baker.``

The police officers who saved Baker on Wednesday were near his house because they were patrolling the area around the nearby Virginia Slims of Florida tournament. Firefighters arrived just as the officers, who had run or ridden bicycles to Baker`s house, brought Baker outside, Fire-Rescue spokesman Doug Trawick said.

``Perhaps if we didn`t have that tournament it might have been sunset for him,`` Parker said. ``They definitely wouldn`t have had that many police officers and firefighters right there.``